2025 Monster Manual to Introduce Male Versions of Hags, Medusas, and Dryads

The upcoming Monster Manual will feature artwork depicting some creatures like hags and medusas in both genders, a first for Dungeons & Dragons. In the "Everything You Need to Know" video for the upcoming Monster Manual, designers Jeremy Crawford and Wesley Schneider revealed that the new book would feature artwork portraying both male and female versions of creatures like hags, dryads, satyrs, and medusas. While there was a male medusa named Marlos Urnrayle in Princes of the Apocalypse (who had a portrait in the book) and players could make satyr PCs of either gender, this marks the first time that D&D has explicitly shown off several of these creatures as being of both male and female within a rulebook. There is no mechanical difference between male creatures and female creatures, so this is solely a change in how some monsters are presented.

In other news that actually does impact D&D mechanics, goblins are now classified as fey creatures (similar to how hobgoblins were portrayed as fey creatures in Monsters of the Multiverse) and gnolls are now classified as fiends.

Additionally, monster statblocks include potential treasure and gear options, so that DMs can reward loot when a player character inevitably searches the dead body of a creature.

The new Monster Manual will be released on February 18th, 2025.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And I’m fine with that, see value in that, but it’s up to the writers to commit to that if that’s their direction, IMO.

They seem to have committed to it in regards to gnolls.

 

[Stormonu]

I’m a little taken aback by all the gnoll love. I don’t know if I’ve ever used them in a campaign.

gnoll lovers are just gnome lovers in wolve's clothing.

Personally, I've always liked half-orcs since I discovered them in 1E, but I've never had the desire to play a full-blooded orc. I guess I like the "caught between two worlds" background of the half-orc much better.

 

[Charlaquin]

And I’m fine with that, see value in that, but it’s up to the writers to commit to that if that’s their direction, IMO.

I understand the value of having monsters that you can always know are monsters and don’t have moral quandaries about. I just don’t think said monsters should ever be a sapient species with a culture. And gnolls were that prior to 2024. If they had been demons all along, I wouldn’t mind so much, but it’s extremely frustrating that they are taking away a sapient people and making them demons specifically to enable them to become the new guilt-free kill-on-sight people.

 

[TiQuinn]

They seem to have committed to it in regards to gnolls.

Eh. Remains to be seen.

 

[abirdcall]

A male hag makes no sense; the whole reason why hags are repulsive and evil is because they're based on patriarchial folklore that sees women beyond childbearing age as abject monstrosities. Introducing egalitarianism and feminism gets rid of the point.

A "male hag" is just a naughty word senator in the literal Latin translation of the term. Old men have respect in our societies.

The point is that we are making new folklore.

 

[abirdcall]

I’m the most vocal about it, but if the buzz around the topic and the likes my comments are getting are any indication, I’m not the only one interested. And as we know, ENWorld regulars are a very small and unrepresentative niche. Not to say there’s some huge cohort of people kicking down WotC’s door for PC gnolls, but they’ve got a surprisingly large fan base. Enough that the question of PC gnolls came up at the height of the great orc debates.

EDIT: Also in general I tend to be very vocal about things I feel strongly about, because that’s the only way to bring attention to the issue(s).

They are a core species in my favourite fantasy series, The Wandering Inn.

There are many regular characters and it spends a lot of time talking about their way of life and culture.

Not to give anything away but there is even another species of evil gnolls too who are their enemy.

 

[KoolMoDaddy-O]

Also, Ogres are my campaign world's male hags.

This works. Somebody upthread said they use trolls instead. Ogres, trolls, oni -- any kind of lesser giant makes sense IMO. In European mythology there is a lot of crossover between giants and witches/hags; I'm thinking specifically of Baba Yaga and Iceland's Grýla.

But like all things D&D, male hags don't bother me. I just happen to like the European folklore more than the D&D lore.

We mostly have the equivalent of low level miscellaneous stuff at the moment, with cobbled-together Seelie and Unseelie courts where the top level fey have to be handwaved and skimmed over, other than the exceptional individuals at the very top.

There was some really robust fey content buried in the digital version of Dragon during the 4e era, with fey lord/ladies like the Prince of Frost, the Carrion King, Selephra the Bramble Queen, Tuxil the Trinket Lord, and places like the citadel Miethrendain, Jaggerbad Skyhouse, and so on.

In any event if you need more fey lore, Kobold Press has you covered. They have at least a dozen fey lords detailed in their various monster books plus shadow fey (their version of eladrin) of every stripe and several fey-based adventures.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

The point is that we are making new folklore.

You can't just "make" folklore. It has to develop organically from the folk. When you "make" folklore you just end up with "intellectual property."

 

[Micah Sweet]

You can't just "make" folklore. It has to develop organically from the folk. When you "make" folklore you just end up with "intellectual property."

That is I think a popular reason for making folklore: because you can't copyright the real kind.

 

[Charlaquin]

You can't just "make" folklore. It has to develop organically from the folk.

Which can’t happen as long as people only ever respond to new takes on folklore with “but that’s not what the old folklore was like!” At a certain point you have to be willing to make the changes you want to see in the world. Some will go along with you and some won’t, but for sure nothing will change if you never try. Be vocal about the things you are passionate about, so others who share that passion can hear it and add their voices to yours. That’s how things “develop organically from the folk.”